July 13, 2011

An 8-year-old Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn boy was found dead in two separate locations on Tuesday night after going missing as he left day camp on Monday. Leiby Kletzky’s body was discovered in a Dumpster at 20th St. and Fourth Avenue, where the police were lead by a man in custody who said “he killed Kletzky and left his body in that area,” NBC New York reports. In the suspect’s Brooklyn apartment, some of Kletzky’s remains were also found in the refrigerator of a third floor attic. A 38-year-old (the New York Timescalls him 35), picked up in Kensington at 2:40 a.m. after a tip to police, is currently in custody and being questioned, with charges in the works. (Update: For more on the suspect, Levi Aron, read here.)

The suspect was tracked down using video of him entering a dentist’s office, where he paid a bill, at about 5:30 p.m. on Monday, just before the boy was abducted. A car believed to be the suspect’s, a “goldish brown Honda,” is seen in the police’s surveillance video and is currently parked opposite his apartment; investigators are awaiting a search warrant.

The Times reports that the man shares a building with his parents, but lives alone. He has no criminal record other than a summons for peeing in public. His birthday is today.

Though the suspect is confirmed by the Times to be Jewish, and to have lived about a mile away from the Kletzky family, “it’s not clear if he’s Hasidic.”

Kletzky was last seen leaving Yeshiva Boyan day camp n 44th Street, but never showed up to meet his parents a few blocks away.